....doesn't mean that the weird dreams will just disappear. Nor does it mean
that the occasional Crave From Nowhere doesn't still make a fleeting, guest
appearance.
Cases in point:
Yesterday-- a long, boring, nothing kind of a day. I decided to do some
cleaning. Started here in the office, attending to some accumulated
paperwork, paying bills, clearing the (literal) desktop, dusting, wiping
down the monitor, etc.... -- a lot of puttering about and tidying up. Stuff
that needed doing and had been put off for a while; you know how it is...
I got motivated to do some more. Changed the bed linens; emptied the catbox.
Went downstairs and decided the carpet needed vacuuming-- but then saw the
cat (who'd been sick lately) was resting quietly on the arm of the sofa, and
decided not to freak her out by running the vacuum cleaner. I kinda got
thrown off track, went back upstairs and sat down here at the desk.
As I tried to think of what to do next, I found myself thinking: "I could
kill a little time and organize my thoughts-- maybe take a break and make
some plans-- with a cigarette." This came out of nowhere, after close to 8
years of being smoke-free! Just a simple: "It'd help to pass the time if I
had a smoke." What the hell is that about? Force of (long denied) habit, and
silly, junkie thinking, is what. I knew right away that it was a case of
drifting back to the way I'd thoughtlessly filled a lot of my idle time all
those years ago. A cigarette was the all-purpose tool, then. I actually
shook my head, rapidly and said: "What the hell are you thinking...?" before
finding something else productive to do.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Then last night I had this dream, obviously inspired by S&S's real-life gift
of some flavored coffee, recently, in combination with reading my old, first
AS3 post about chewing tons of gum to stall off the cravings....
Dream begins: Steve and Sarah and Nick come to visit us. We had a much
larger house, in this dream, and Nick was riding a bicycle up and down long,
long hallways that we don't have in real life. Marsha and Sarah were chasing
him around; everyone's laughing and having fun...
Steve gives me a gift: A package of "MAPLE LIGHTS"-- a new Canadian
cigarette with a maple sugar filter. The filter end was much larger than it
needed to be-- or so it seemed to me. Steve explained that it was intended
to be chewed. It was like a big, old, gooey wad of gum, or something, stuck
to the end of the cigarette. You chewed and chewed and chewed, building up
enough friction and heat energy that it eventually caused the other end of
the cigarette to ignite. This made a very pleasant aroma-- like maple logs
in a fireplace.
"Boy; this smells pretty good", I said. "Not at all like tobacco. It doesn't
stink! It makes the place smell like... uh... well, like something good.
It's like..."
"Like being inside a luxurious Canadian hunting lodge" said Steve.
"Yeah! I've never been in one but I'll take your word for it." I asked.
"I'm from Canada, so you have to" he said.
"Our government is issuing them to everyone. They're designed to be *good*
for you!"
He explained that you had to keep vigorously chewing the end of the thing to
keep it lit, and this not only gave you some minimum daily amount of
beneficial exercise, but the exertion also somehow triggered a release of
neurochemicals that counteracted any harmful ingredients in the cigarette.
(Uh-huh...)
So we're chewing away like madmen, fuming the place up with clouds of
alleged maple-y goodness, and Sarah, Nick and Marsha come in and stare at
us, aghast. Nick began to sob, and Marsha and Sarah both started yelling at
us.
"But... the maple-y goodness! The jaw exercises! The aroma...! It's... it's
supposed to be good for us" I protested.
Steve just looked sheepish.
"Are you out of your goddam minds?" our wives demanded. "
You're **SMOKING**, you boneheads! It CAN'T be good! Stop it, right now! Put
those out!"
I felt like a complete idiot.
I woke up feeling vaguely ashamed, slightly disoriented and somewhat amused.
I staggered downstairs to make a pot of non maple-flavored coffee...
Just because you're OOF or greater... 
Linear Mode
